Michael Hurt became the first to commit to the Gophers Class of 2016.
Senior wing Amir Coffey of Hopkins became the second Minnesota native to commit to the homestate school Monday, joining Michael Hurt of Rochester John Marshall. This commitment leaves the Gophers with one scholarship available and many are speculating that Eric Curry of Little Rock (AK) Southwest Christian Academy could commit to Minnesota Wednesday morning. He is expected to make his choice between Minnesota, Iowa State and Arkansas.
Coffey is the highest rated recruit to pick the Gophers since Royce White, who also attended Hopkins. Coffey is currently ranked #33 by ESPN, #41 by Scout and #54 by Rivals. He didn’t play on the AAU circuit this season, which could make it tough to get a McDonald’s All-American Game invite, since most of the voters see the players only during the evaluation periods. However, a big senior season could cause his stock to rise.
Landing a player as talented as Coffey is important on several levels. His father, Richard, was one of the most popular Gophers of all-time. Richard was an undersized power forward whose work ethic and energy made him a very effective inside performer under Clem Haskins, despite not being the most skilled player.
His son is a very different player. Amir is a skilled wing player who can play multiple positions. He needs to continue to get stronger and avoid injuries. He suffered a leg injury in July before his sophomore season and a torn ACL three games into his junior year.
Minnesota will lose seniors Joey King and Carlos Morris to graduation after the 2015-16 season. King started all 33 games and averaged 9.9 points and 3.0 rebounds. He was second on the team in three-point shooting percentage and led the team in free throw shooting percentage.
Morris was third on the team in scoring with 11.1 points per game and added 3.2 rebounds per contest. He was third on the steals with 58.
The addition of Hurt and Coffey gives head coach Richard Pitino plenty of talent at the wing positions for their first season in 2016-17. The Gophers will also return 6-foot-6 forwards Ahmad Gilbert and Jordan Murphy, both currently freshmen.
They will also have guards Kevin Dorsey (currently a 6-foot freshman), Nate Mason (6-foot-1 sophomore) and Dupree McBrayer (6-foot-4 freshman). Jarvis Johnson, a 6-foot-1 guard from Minneapolis (MN) DeLaSalle, will sit out the upcoming season, due to a heart condition and his future is uncertain.
The commitment of Coffey was critical for Pitino to prove that he could land the top instate talent. 2014 grads Tyus Jones, Reid Travis and Rashad Vaughn all played in the McDonald’s All-American Game. However, none of the three decided to stay home, electing to go to Duke, Stanford and UNLV, respectively.
It is hard to blame Pitino for missing out on the talented trio since he didn’t land the job until April of 2013.
I remember being at the Minnesota-Michigan State game on December 31, 2012 and watching the Gophers beat the Spartans 76-63 to improve to 13-1 and a number eight ranking in the country and all three players in attendance and thinking that they had a good chance of landing one, two or maybe all three players. Unfortunately, they finished just 8-12 the rest of the season and head coach Tubby Smith and his staff was fired, leading to Pitino getting the job.
Pitino has shown that he can keep the top in-state talent, landing Johnson, the top in-state prospect in the Class of 2015 and getting commitments from Coffey and Hurt, who are considered the top two players in the Class of 2016. They have an offer to 6-foot-9 Reed Nikko, a 2016 big man from Maple Grove.
Pitino and his staff have extended scholarship offers to the top two in-state players from the Class of 2017 in Gary Trent Jr. of Apple Valley and Theo John from Champlin Park. The Gophers are monitoring Goanar Mar of DeLaSalle, McKinley Wright from Champlin Park and Brad Davison of Maple Grove.
The Gophers have offered a scholarship to 2018 guard Tre Jones of Apple Valley.
The only current Minnesota natives on the roster are former Missouri Valley Conference transfer senior King (Drake) and Reggie Lynch (Illinois State), who will sit out the 2015-16 season and have two years of eligibility remaining. The Gophers could have had three former MVC players, but Zach Lofton, who transferred from Illinois State, but never played a game before leaving the program.
The Gophers appear to be loaded with talented on the perimeter, but their success the next few years will likely depend on the development of their raw, but talented big men. The Gophers were outrebounded by 2.6 rebounds per game last season. Conversely, they outrebounded their opposition by 7.7 caroms in the 2012-13 season.